DRUG WARNINGS IN THE CLASSROOM

Some Educators Advocate Teaching About Drugs in The Schools

Chronic use of high-inducing inhalants damages the protective sheath
around certain nerve fibers in the brain, which is clinically similar
to multiple sclerosis. A teen who binge drinks can decrease his or
her respiration, which can lead to death from failure to breathe.

Someone using cocaine can reduce the reabsorption process of
dopamine, which causes continuous stimulation of receiving neurons
and can result in a range of effects from increased heart rate to
disturbances in heart rhythm, strokes, and seizures.

Research on Ecstasy links it to long-term damage to neurons involved
in mood, thinking, and judgment. A study of nonhuman primates showed
that use for only four days caused damage to serotonin nerve
terminals that was evident six to seven years later.

If students study the physiological effects of drugs and alcohol in
their chemistry, biology and anatomy classes, especially how
substances act upon the central nervous system, then would it change
a student's mind about trying the substances?

What started as a science department meeting at Immaculate High
School in Danbury last week was transformed into a regional
conversation when 45 educators and medical and substance abuse
experts from throughout western Connecticut showed up.

It underscores the urgency to find new ways to teach young people
about substance abuse at a time when other methods aren't working well.

"I feel strongly that this should be a non-judgmental part of the
class. It should be part of the standardized curriculum so when the
opportunity to use or not use arises they will know the effect of the
drugs rather than 'just say no' as Nancy Reagan used to promote,"
said Dr. Henry Blandsfield, a retired surgeon and internist in
Danbury who has been a leading voice in the city on addiction medicine.

Blandsfield approached Immaculate High School officials about
incorporating science-based material on how drugs affect the body
within the academic environment so students would know the material
well enough to be tested on it.

"The idea is to shift drug education from the sidelines and give it
more integrity by integrating it into the curriculum," said Richard
Stoops, principal of Immaculate High School in Danbury, who organized
the conversation Tuesday. "It makes kids more academically
responsible for learning the material."

It is unrealistic to think that teens do not try drugs. Nearly one in
four has tried marijuana, a survey last year showed.

Twenty-three percent of high school students in Connecticut and 20
percent nationally used marijuana in the past 30 days, according to
survey conducted in the spring of 2005 by the Connecticut departments
of education and public health. Forty-five percent of Connecticut
students and 43 percent nationally drank alcohol during the past 30 days.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports some positive trends in
2005, such as a decrease in drug abuse from the peak years of the
mid-1990s, as well as negative trends such as an increase in the
abuse of prescription drugs and inhalants and less fear among young
people about the effects of marijuana and Ecstasy.

Charles Herrick, medical director of inpatient psychiatry and crisis
intervention at Danbury Hospital, agreed that there's a clear benefit
for students to understand the science of drugs better, but its
affect on the use of drugs is more complex.

"Their study can help them retain the science better but what impact
will it have on stopping the use of drugs and alcohol?" Herrick
asked. "It makes the assumption that better knowledge will lead to
better judgments."

Herrick wants more attention paid to the influence peers have on a
student's decision to use substances.

He urges parents and educators to monitor young people's use of the
Internet and cell phones to keep track of the influences on their
children and thinks any new approach to drug education must do a
better job of finding peer leaders who model healthier behavior.

"We need to identify leaders among the peers to help modify
behavior," Herrick said. "I believe it's not just providing drug
education but influencing their friends and enlisting support from peers."

One highly popular method of drug education used since 1983 hasn't
worked, according to research.

In 1983, the Los Angeles Police Department created a hour-long class
held weekly for 17 weeks for fifth- and sixth-graders called DARE,
which stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. The course covered
drug use and misuse, consequences of behavior, resisting peer
pressure, ways to say no, increasing self-esteem, media images of
drug use, positive role models, and support systems.

Many police departments across the country adopted the program and
received federal money for it.

The General Accounting Office of the federal government reviewed the
program in 2003 and "found no significant differences in illicit drug
use between students who received DARE in the fifth or sixth grade
(the intervention group) and students who did not. The evaluations
suggested that DARE had no statistically significant long-term effect
on preventing illicit drug use among youth.

In fact, because the federal government requires curriculum that
relies on evidence-based, proven research, it no longer pays for DARE
programs, said Scott Newgass, consultant for the state Department of
Education for safe schools.

Newgass said he would support the drug education program under discussion.

"The strategy is a solid one. Anything that is done to prevent drug
abuse is a good thing to do," Newgass said. "The

issue with teenagers is that

they are not looking that far ahead. They're not likely to be looking
at long-term consequences."

And, he said, no matter how intensive the drug education program is,
a community must do more.

"Drugs are symptomatic of other problems. If you take away drugs, you
have to provide alternative activities," Newgass said. "We really
want to provide other activities that are safe and stimulating and
productive and pro-social."

Liz Jorgensen, an adolescent psychotherapist in Ridgefield for 22
years, has used a program from the National institute of Drug Abuse
in presentations to teenagers that shows how the teenage brain
develops and the effects of drug use on the brain.

"I've found that the more dangerous a kid thinks a drug is, they
either won't try it or will wait longer," she said.

Jorgensen said students just can't hear the facts, they must believe them.

The problem with DARE was that students heard a very black and white
message about drugs being bad in fifth grade but when they reached
high school, they saw some kids who used drugs didn't have those bad
effects necessarily.

"The message didn't fit their experience," she said.

Jorgensen agreed that integrating drug education into science
curriculum was a good idea.

"Any curriculum that makes kids understand accurately how dangerous
drug use is can be effective," she said. "Prevention models call for
many messages from many messengers."

Dr. Peter Rostenberg, a New Fairfield internist who specializes in
addiction medicine, said schools can be one place for early
intervention but no matter what, If the substance abuser feels the
system really cares for them they will do better.

"The principle in law, medicine and human nature is if we create
intervention at the earliest possible time we will get the best
results," he said.

But, drug education is only one part of it. Society sends students
messages that can't be overlooked.

Rostenberg said that up to 5,000 young people die from
alcohol-related injuries each year and they are all preventable
deaths, but society tolerates a certain number of deaths to be able
to continue its practices.

Newgass said society sends students mixed messages, like all the ads
for over-the-counter medications to solve every ailment.

"The culture communicates a sense that substances that alter your
functioning can be useful," he said.

Joe Sullivan, director of the Midwestern Connecticut Council on
Alcoholism, said that in the past 10 years there has been a lot more
understanding on the effects of drugs on the central nervous system
and agreed that students could benefit from that information.

Still, Frances Evans, coordinator of health and physical education
for Danbury public schools, said information is only one aspect of
drug education.

"We can only get them a certain amount of information and then must
lead them forward," she said.

Her school district uses national drug education programs for sixth
and ninth grades that include simulation of drunk behavior, the
chemical response in the brain of pleasure receptors and family
tendencies for abuse.

In addition, the school's peer leadership class has seniors teach
freshmen classes on a variety of topics including drug use.

Immaculate principal Stoops pointed out there is a growing state-wide
sensibility about teaching children to live healthier lives and cited
the new school lunch nutrition guidelines as one example.

He'll bring together parents, students and teachers to discuss
expanding the science curriculum in his school to include the
physiological affects of drugs on the body.

"I hope that by next September, we would place these issues firmly in
classes," he said.

"The idea is to give them (students) critical thinking skills. It
makes sense. It should be part of the main curriculum, not just part
of the co-curricular activities," Stoops said. "These kids need
everything we can give them to help them cope with the world."